On The Road 1 ~ Spain 2001

In lieu of any outings, with the weather being pants and Sophie away, I’m digging down into the archives for another episode of Fraggle Curated.

I’ve always loved driving, and had many cars in my life I especially love a good road trip and driving in other lands. Of course it’s not easy to take photos and drive simultaneously, and more than probably not the safest manoeuvre to pull off, but I have parked up and got out to take the odd road picture, and I especially like being a front seat passenger when I can do drive by shooting. It’s also good to have a passenger who I can direct what and where to shoot with my camera or iPhone. I have quite a few so there’ll be more than one episode of these!

In 2001, my friend Andy moved from Milton Keynes to Alhaurìn El Grande, in southern Spain. He hired a van, packed up all his gear and I went up to drive him down, through France and Spain, a 3000 mile round trip. I took Ben with me and we made some memories. Ben took nearly all the pictures here.

“It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.”  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ben and Andy, Ford Transit, just got to France on an overnight Ferry.

“Roads are a record of those who have gone before.” ~ Rebecca Solnit

Travelling down through Spain

“Wherever you get to is better than where you started. To stay on the road is a massive achievement.” ~ Anthony Joshua

Sunrise over Alhaurìn El Grande, we’ve arrived!
The trusty Transit.

All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination. ~ Earl Nightingale

We delivered Andy to his Mum’s Villa, from where he was embarking upon his new life, and Ben and I had a day and overnight stop there before setting off back to Old Blighty the next morning.

Chilling at the Villa

“No matter who you are or where you are, instinct tells you to go home.” ~ Laura Marney

Rocky Mountain Road ~ Spain, the journey home.

“All he needed was a wheel in his hand and four on the road.” ~ Jack Kerouac

Me by Ben, family tradition- stick tongue out when being photographed 🙂

“Look at life through the windshield, not the rearview mirror.” ~ Byrd Baggett

Foresting work.

“The pleasure we derive from journeys is perhaps dependent more on the mindset with which we travel than on the destination we travel to.”  ~ Alain de Botton

Sundown

The sun went down as we reached the border between Spain and France, and I pulled off when we saw a motel to stay the night and rest up for the next day’s journey.

“When you go on a road trip, the trip itself becomes part of the story.” ~ Steve Rushin

Ben watching CSI dubbed in Spanish

Back in France

“If you’re not lost, you’re not much of an explorer.” ~ John Perry Barlow

Driving over one of the rivers that run through Bordeaux, where I got totally lost.

“In life, it’s not where you go – it’s who you travel with.” ~ Charles M. Schulz

Finally arrived at Calais, Ben checking the map before we get on the Ferry.
Duty Frees!!

That was the first really long road trip I ever did, but not the last. I know the photos are not all that, but Ben was only 12, the camera was a 1MP point and shoot, and I knew sweet fanny adams about photography. It doesn’t matter to me though, these are wonderful memories of me and my boy, and memories are why I got into photography in the first place.

“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.” ~ Aaron Siskind

Tynemouth Market ~ August 2022

Regular visitors will have seen a few posts from Tynemouth Market over my past 9 years on WordPress, there’s always something to photograph and it’s a fab place for great coffee, interesting foods, daft purchases and funny looking people. For those who are new here, or have forgotten, the market takes place in Tynemouth Metro station, the station is also a Grade II listed building which opened in 1882 as a railway station. It later became the first section of the Metro network in 1980, making it a great attraction for local history buffs. (Metrospotters?) Anyway with Sophie back in Spain, I decided to go looking for vintage spoons for a photo I need to do, and Phil came along as there are plenty of vinyl record stalls to browse.

I took my Contax of course, so there’ll be a Film Friday post at some point, but I also took my iPhone and used the Hipstamatic app to photograph anything/one I fancied that took my notice.

Just at the entrance there’s a small section of floor tiles that are cracked and blue, which I hadn’t noticed before today

the blues

I love the light in the market, the glass panelled roof makes some great shadows when the sun is shining.

shadows
in the navy.
got the blues
in the pink
decisions, decisions.
wooden hearts.
Bone Idol

I think it takes a fair bit of courage to stand at the top of the steps on your own singing to a herd of people who are not interested and don’t give a monkeys, but she needed to be a better singer to grab any attention. Also The New Seekers songs are a bit beyond 🙄 .

busker lady

I accidentally pressed the shutter at the bottom of the stairs, but I like the result

happy accident

I have no idea what this musical dummy is for, I don’t think it can be for dressmaking judging by the boob area, you could rest your drinks on that ledge!

Booby Doll.

I am not sure why this fellow is dressed in the (pesky) Scottish National Costume, but he does look fetching I think.

Foxy Scotsy
actual health and well being.
Phil purchasing tat 🥴 🤣 ♥️

That’s it for this week! Stay tooned for where/whatever next time!

😊 📱

Morpeth ~ July 2022

Sophie is back in Blighty and available for a couple of weekends outings with our cameras, so last Sunday we had a trip northwards to visit Morpeth, ostensibly Carlisle Park in Morpeth which has stuff of interest to photograph.

A (very) potted History Bit.

Morpeth is a historic market town in Northumberland, North East England, lying on the River Wansbeck. It’s spelling has been all over the shop, Morthpeth meaning “myriad”, Morthpath meaning “gateway”, Morthpaeth meaning “fodder”. Who the heck knows what’s that about. 🤷‍♀️ It could have been inhabited during the Neolithic era as a stone axe was found there but that’s about it. No Roman remains have turned up though they were about in Northumberland. It was first referenced in 1080 when William de Merlay was rewarded with “the Barony of Morthpeth stretching from the Tyne to the Coquet” for his part in suppressing the rebellion of Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland against the King, William II.
By 1095 Wills had built a motte & bailey castle and in 1138 Will’s son Ranulf de Merlay, lord of Morpeth founded Newminster Abbey (now a grade 2 listed site ~ there’s not much of it left) along with his Missis Juliana.
In 1200 King John granted a market charter for the town to Roger de Merlay and by the mid 1700s It became one of the main markets in Northern England, and by the mid 18th century was one of the key cattle markets in England selling cattle driven by drovers over the border from Scotland. There’s still a general market there on a Wednesday, and a Farmer’s market one Saturday a month, but I don’t think a bunch of Pesky Scottish drovers with herds of cattle get to it. In 1215 the First Barons War kicked off, this was a civil war where the major landholders (know as barons) of England rebelled against King John (who was a knob) and Morpeth got torched by the barons to block King John’s military ops.
It’s commonly said that John burnt down the motte and bailey castle and a new castle was later built south of the old one in the 13thC by his son Ranulf, but there’s no evidence for that and an alternative report is that the second William de Merlay (Ranulf’s son) completed the second castle in 1170, the same year he died.
For some months in 1515–16, Margaret Tudor (Henry VIII’s sister) who was the Queen Consort of Scotland (James IV’s widow), had laid ill in Morpeth Castle, having been brought there from Harbottle Castle.
During the 1543–51 we have the war of the ‘Rough Wooing’, when Morpeth was occupied by a garrison of Italian mercenaries, who “pestered such a little street standing in the highway” by killing deer and withholding payment for food. Rough Wooing was originally known as the Eight Years War and was part of the wars of the 16th century between England and the Pesky Scots. The historian William Ferguson contrasted this jocular nickname with the savagery and devastation of the war: English policy was simply to pulverise Scotland, to beat her either into acquiescence or out of existence, and Hertford’s campaigns resemble nothing so much as Nazi total warfare; “blitzkrieg”, reign of terror, extermination of all resisters, the encouragement of collaborators, and so on. This was all down to Henry VIII being a knob. In fact most of our Kings were knobs.

Morpeth has what is reputed to be the tightest curve (17 chains or 340 metres radius) of any main railway line in Britain. The track turns approximately 98° from a northwesterly to an easterly direction immediately west of Morpeth Station on an otherwise fast section of the East Coast Main Line railway. This was a major factor in three serious derailments between 1969 and 1994 when the drivers took the curve at 80miles per hour. The curve has a permanent speed restriction of 50 miles per hour (80 km/h). I’d still advise you to travel by car to visit though! 😊

That’s most of the good stuff, so cracking on with some pictures now!

After we got the car parked, we headed straight for Carlisle Park. The park has the William Turner Garden, an aviary, a paddling pool, an ancient woodland, tennis courts, several bowling greens and a skate park. The park has one of the only four floral clocks in England, which was restored in 2018. In 2018, a statue of Emily Wilding Davison was erected in Carlisle Park, to commemorate 100 years since women were given the right to vote. The park has been awarded the Green Flag Award,the Love Parks Award in 2017, and ‘Best Park’ in Northumbria’s in bloom competition in 2018.

Carlisle Park.

Emily Wilding Davison (11 October 1872 – 8 June 1913) was an English suffragette who fought for votes for women in Britain in the early twentieth century. A member of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) and a militant fighter for her cause, she was arrested on nine occasions, went on hunger strike seven times and was force-fed on forty-nine occasions. She died after being hit by King George V’s horse Anmer at the 1913 Derby when she walked onto the track during the race.

Emily

Next to Emily’s bit there is an aviary and though they had some plain perspex panels it wasn’t easy to photograph the birds as the panels were a bit mucky, but I got a couple of shots.

No idea what edition this one is.
a budgie. I think.

Sophie decided we needed to climb the steep hill that leads to Morpeth Castle, I hate hills but did it anyway 😄

There are only remnants left of the castle walls

but the original gatehouse is still intact, though much altered. The one great military event in the castle’s history was in 1644 when a garrison of 500 Lowland Scots held it for Parliament for 20 days against 2,700 Royalists. The castle was held by and passed by the female line through several illustrious families; de Merlay, Greystoke, Dacre and Howard, none of whom resided there for any long period. In about 1860 the gatehouse was restored and converted to provide a staff residence. The Castle was rented on a long-term arrangement to the Landmark Trust in 1988 which undertook a complete refurbishment in 1990, restoring many of the gatehouse’s original historic features and removing the modern extensions and swimming pool. The gatehouse is now available to rent from the Landmark Trust as holiday accommodation.

Morpeth Castle Gatehouse.

The Castle isn’t open usually but they did have an open day at one point and i found a short video of the inside of it;

The park runs along side the river Wansbeck so we had a wander along.

heron

There are boats you can hire for a pootle on the river

family fun

it’s a tranquil place to read a book too.

So that’s it for this week, next time we’ll have a look at a few bits in the town itself.

Stay tooned!

📷 🙂

Dance

“To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful… This is power, it is glory on earth and it is yours for the taking”
Agnes De Mille

Fuerteventura 1997

“Those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”
Friedrich Nietzsche

Side, Turkey, 1999

“In a society that worships love, freedom, and beauty, dance is sacred. It is a prayer for the future, a remembrance of the past and a joyful exclamation of thanks for the present.” Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Paphos, Cyprus, 2006

“One step, two steps, three steps; like winds of time experience joy of centuries, when movements become revelations of the dance of destinies.”
Shah Asad Rizvi

Tunisia 2008

“Dancing is creating a sculpture that is visible only for a moment.” Erol Ozan

Loz & Ben, South Shields UK 2012

“Take his hands, take her hands and dance! There’s a wide and free world calling on you to make it your dance floor.” Ayokunle Falomo, 

Danielle & Cal, Sunderland UK 2013

“This is why the idea of finding love across the dance floor endures – symbolizing that, when we know the true rhythm of our heart, we know the other.”Alexandra Katehakis

Nashville, USA, 2014

“The truest expression of a people is in its dances and its music. Bodies never lie.” Agnes de Mille

Sunderland Diwali Festival, UK 2017

“Dance till the stars come down from the rafters
Dance, Dance, Dance ’till you drop.” W.H.Auden

Stotfold Mill Fair, UK 2018

“Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance. Great dancers are great because of their passion.” Martha Graham

St.Albans, UK 2018

“It doesn’t matter if I’m off the beat. It doesn’t matter if I’m snapping to the rhythm. It doesn’t matter if I look like a complete goon when I dance. It is my dance. It is my moment. It is mine. And dance I will. Try and stop me. You’ll probably get kicked in the face.”
― Dan Pearce, 

Pelaw Inn, Gateshead, UK 2019

“Dance like nobody’s watching; love like you’ve never been hurt. Sing like nobody’s listening; live like it’s heaven on earth.” -Mark Twain

Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland, UK 2019

Stay tooned for whatever comes next. 🙂

Family

I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father’s protection.     — Sigmund Freud

Tanfield Railway, Tyne & Wear, UK 2012

“Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family.”–Anthony Brandt

Bolam Lake, Northumberland UK 2012

“Being a family means you are a part of something very wonderful. It means you will love and be loved for the rest of your life.”– Lisa Weed

Staithes, North Yorkshire, UK 2013

“The memories we make with our family are everything.”– Candace Cameron Bure

Saltwell Park, Tyne & Wear, UK 2014

My children give me the gift of stepping out of the daily ordinariness into the father zone—a place where my innate curiosity, sense of adventure, and love of a weekend gets rediscovered.”      –Jeff Stone

Warkworth, Northumberland, UK 2015

“Becoming a grandmother is wonderful. One moment you’re just a mother. The next you are all-wise and prehistoric.” Pam Brown

Newcastle-Upon-Tyne UK 2016

To be a mother of a son is one of the most important things you can do to change the world. Raise them to respect women, raise them to stand up for others, raise them to be kind.”     –Shannon L. Alder

Pow Hill Nature Reserve, Northumberland, UK 2017

“There’s something like a line of gold thread running through a man’s words when he talks to his daughter, and gradually over the years it gets to be long enough for you to pick up in your hands and weave into a cloth that feels like love itself ”. —-John Gregory

Eddy & Malina Poland, 2017

“In truth a family is what you make it. It is made strong, not by number of heads counted at the dinner table, but by the rituals you help family members create, by the memories you share, by the commitment of time, caring, and love you show to one another, and by the hopes for the future you have as individuals and as a unit.”– Marge Kennedy

Alnwick, Northumberland 2018

“Peace is the beauty of life. It is sunshine. It is the smile of a child, the love of a mother, the joy of a father, the togetherness of a family. It is the advancement of man, the victory of just cause, the triumph of truth.”– Menacheim Begin

Botanical Gardens, County Durham, UK 2018

Dads are most ordinary men turned by love into heroes, adventures, story-tellers, and singers of songs.     –Pam Brown

Tynemouth Market, UK 2019

“We are sisters. We will always be sisters. Our differences may never go away, but neither, for me, will our song”. —Elizabeth Fishel

Durham Castle, UK 2019

Stay tooned for whatever comes next time 🙂

all pictures clickable & embiggenable.

Friends

“If you have good friends, no matter how much life is sucking , they can make you laugh.”― P.C. Cast Kristin Cast

Bede’s World, UK 2012

“Ultimately the bond of all companionship, whether in marriage or in friendship, is conversation.” —Oscar Wilde

Alnwick UK 2012

“I don’t know what I would have done so many times in my life if I hadn’t had my girlfriends.”Reese Witherspoon

Chinatown, Newcastle, UK 2012

“When the world is so complicated, the simple gift of friendship is within all of our hands.”Maria Shriver

Staithes UK 2013

“A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be.”Douglas Pagels

Niagara Falls ,Canada, 2014

“Friendship improves happiness, and abates misery, by doubling our joys, and dividing our grief.”Marcus Tullius Cicero

Newcastle, UK, 2015

“Women’s friendships are like a renewable source of power.”Jane Fonda

Newcastle, UK, 2016

“True friends don’t judge each other, they judge other people together.”– – Emilie Saint-Genis

Tynemouth, UK 2016

“A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.”
― Bernard Meltzer

Tees Cottage Pumping Station 2017

“Friendship is the source of the greatest pleasures, and without friends even the most agreeable pursuits become tedious.”Thomas Aquinas

Pow Hill Nature Reserve, Northumberland, UK 2017
Botanical Gardens, Durham, UK, 2018

“Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you; spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.”Amy Poehler

Newcastle, Uk, 2019

“A man’s friendships are one of the best measures of his worth.”Charles Darwin

Eindhoeven, Holland, 2019
Florence, Italy, 2019

“There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate.”Linda Grayson

Wardley Lake, UK, 2020

pictures are clickable embiggenables,

Stay tooned for whatever comes next. 😊

Music

“Music is the universal language of mankind.”
― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Spain 2000

“Music, once admitted to the soul, becomes a sort of spirit, and never dies.”
― Edward Bulwer Lytton

Edinburgh, Scotland, 2006

Histories of ages past
Unenlightened shadows cast.
Down through all eternity
The crying of humanity.
‘Tis then when the Hurdy Gurdy Man
Comes singing songs of love… —Donovan

Hurdy Gurdy Man, Beamish Museum 2011

“Music is the strongest form of magic.”
― Marilyn Manson

Alnwick, UK 2012

“The most wretched people in the world are those who tell you they like every kind of music ‘except country.”
― Chuck Klosterman, 

Nashville, Tennessee, USA, 2014

“Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.”
― Lao Tzu

York, UK, 2015

“Music acts like a magic key, to which the most tightly closed heart opens.”
― Maria von Trapp

Hurdy Gurdy Lady, Beamish Museum 2016

“… I got to try the bagpipes. It was like trying to blow an octopus” –James Galway

Simonside Country Fair, UK 2017

“Music is the beat of a drum that keeps time with our emotions.”
― Shannon L. Alder

Camel Parade, South SHields, UK 2017

“There is no sorrow in singing.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

Aln Valley Railway, UK 2019

Stay tooned for more next week!

All pictures embiggenable with a click 🙂


Hats

Wearing a hat is fun; people have a good time when they’re wearing a hat”.    ~ Philip Treacy

Tunisia 2008

And all your future lies beneath your hat”.    ~ John Oldham

Beamish Museum 2011

People, when they buy a hat, they can’t explain why they want to buy it or why they want it, but they do. It’s like chocolate.    ~ Philip Treacy

Cyprus 2012

“Whenever you wear your hat, your day will be special.”  ~ Margo Nickel

Sorrento Italy 2013

“Personally I would never want to be a member of any group where you either have to wear a hat, or you can’t wear a hat.””~ George Carlin

Nashville 2014

If you’re going to wear a cowboy hat, you’re going to have to go all the way. You should have livestock around you, settle all of your disputes with a pistol, and ride a horse absolutely everywhere. ~Tom Segura

Farne Islands 2015

The success of a hat definitely lies with balancing the personality of the wearer with the type of occasion. Don’t listen to those rules about face shape”.    ~  Philip Treacy

Arbeia Roman Fort, South Shields 2016

We just know inside that we’re queens. And these are the crowns we wear. ~Felecia McMillan

Beamish Museum 2016

“It wasn’t the wearing of the hat that counted so much as having one to wear. Every trade, every craft had its hat.  ” ~ Terry Pratchett  

Newcastle, The Quays market, 2017

Why should anyone be frightened by a hat?”    ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Camel Parade 2017

I haven’t got an ad lib for people throwing bread rolls at my hat”. ~Tommy Cooper

Seaham 2018

For no matter what the world, men who deal in headwear are men to be trusted above any other”.    ~ Frank Beddor

Tynemouth Market 2018

Some hats can only be worn if you’re willing to be jaunty, to set them at an angle and to walk beneath them with a spring in your stride as if you’re only a step away from dancing. They demand a lot of you”.   ~ Neil Gaiman

Stephenson Railway Museum 2019.

All pictures are embiggenable with a click,

Stay tooned for whatever comes next time! 🙂

 


Horses

Who doesn’t like the noble steeds, the pretty ponies, the Drey’s? I used to ride when I was a little girl, and love to see horses when I’m out and about. Of course they love to be photographed too!

From horses we may learn not only about the horse itself but also about animals in general, indeed about ourselves and about life as a whole.”
― George Gaylord Simpson

Blay, Normandy,France 2007

“The horse. Here is nobility without conceit, friendship without envy, beauty without vanity. A willing servant, yet never a slave.”

—Ronald Duncan

Northumberland, UK, 2011

“A horse is the projection of peoples’ dreams about themselves – strong, powerful, beautiful – and it has the capability of giving us escape from our mundane existence.”

—-Pam Brown

Tanfield Railway, Gateshead, UK 2012

“A horse is worth more than riches“.

— Spanish Proverb

Bruges, Belgium 2013

“When you are on a great horse, you have the best seat you will ever have”

—Winston Churchill

Houffalize, Belgium 2013

“Through the days of love and celebration and joy, and through the dark days of mourning – the faithful horse has been with us always.”

—Elizabeth Cotton

Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland, UK 2016

“I am still under the impression that there is nothing alive quite so beautiful as a horse.”

—John Galsworthy

Beamish Museum, County Durham, UK 2016

“The horse, with beauty unsurpassed, strength immeasurable and grace unlike any other, still remains humble enough to carry a man upon his back.”

—Amber Senti

Simonside Country Fair, Northumberland, UK 2017

I believe that the value of the horse and the opportunity of the horse in the future is likely to be as great as ever. Aeroplanes and tanks are only accessories to the men and the horse, and I feel sure that as time goes on you will find just as much use for the horse—the well bred horse—as you have ever done in the past.

—Sir Douglas Haig field marshal in the British Army and a senior officer during World War I.

Beamish Museum, County Durham, UK 2018

“The essential joy of being with horses is that it brings us in contact with the rare elements of grace, beauty, spirit, and freedom.”

Sharon Ralls Lemon

South Shields, Tyne & Wear, UK 2018

“There is something about riding down the street on a prancing horse that makes you feel like something, even when you ain’t a thing.”

Will Rogers

Florence, Tuscany, Italy, 2019

“Horses change lives. They give our young people confidence and self-esteem. They provide peace and tranquility to troubled souls, they give us hope.”

—Toni Robinson

Northumberland Zoo, UK 2019

“Horses make a landscape look beautiful”

—Alice Walker

all pictures embiggenable with a click.

Stay tooned for whatever comes next! 🙂

Photographers

Something different this week, so you can have a rest from all the edumacational history normally turning up in your feed on a Sunday. I’ve been taking photographs since I was a teenager, though only really started learning about photography 10 years ago. I love seeing other people when they are engrossed in taking photographs, and if I see someone so engaged, will take a picture of them if I can do it sneakily! So here is my collection of some of the happy people making memories, and a few who do it for a living.

“It is more important to click with people than to click the shutter.”
– Alfred Eisenstaedt

Tunisia 2008, the resort photographer, lovely chap.

“Photography has no rules, it is not a sport. It is the result which counts, no matter how it is achieved.”
– Bill Brandt

La Gleize, Belgium 2012

“Gosh, my job is so easy! I just click a button all day… said no photographer ever.”
– Unknown

Pathos, Cyprus, 2012

“Results are uncertain even among the more experienced photographers.”
– Matthew Brady

Bruges, Belgium, 2013

“In the world of photography, you get to share a captured moment with other people.”
– James Wilson

Sorrento, Italy 2013

“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… It remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.”
– Aaron Siskind

Times Square, New York City, USA 2014

“Photography is a love affair with life.”
– Burk Uzzle

Farne Islands, 2015

“The best thing about a picture is that it never changes, even when the people in it do.”
Andy Warhol

Angel of the North, Gateshead, UK 2017

“Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second.”
– Marc Riboud

Corbridge, Northumberland, UK 2018

“A camera is a SAVE button for the mind’s eye.”
– Roger Kingston

Mont Saint Michel , Normandy France, 2019

All picture are embiggenable with a click!

Stay tooned for whatever comes next!

Newcastle – Sept 2019 – people

Just some people I spotted on our walk around Gateshead & Newcastle.

At Venice Beach 🙂
The force is with them
Geordie Shore
02
Up
It wasn’t that bad!
Liquid Lunch
Three Hens
Walking Dudettes
Wait-ers
Party Girls
Living out of a suitcase.

All pictures embiggenable with a little click

An album of all the Newcastle pictures can be found HERE

Stay tooned for our next adventure. 🙂

Newcastle Upon Tyne ~ September 2019 ~ 1

We actually had a sunny day back in September last year, and Sophie wanted to go to an open day at All Saints Church in Newcastle. So off we went on the metro, but before we get to the pictures, we must do

The History Bit.

The current All Saints Church stands on the site of a previous medieval church called All Hallows, founded between 1150 and 1190. It is the only elliptical church building in England, a Grade 1 listed building, and the third tallest religious building in Newcastle.  The original church was pulled down at the end of the 18th century after architects had reviewed the old church and found “That this decayed building cannot be repaired but at as much expense as building a new one. If one part is taken down the rest will follow. The south wall was in danger of falling by the pressure of the roof; one of the pillars of the steeple had considerably shrunk, and the steeple itself inclined to the south. The stone of the groined arches under the bells was decayed, the timber and bells in great danger of falling in, the stone in several windows decayed, the walls were rotten, and the lime had lost its cement and become almost dust”.  David Stephenson, a renowned North East architect designed the new building, and after a couple of adaptations, the new building was completed in 1796, having cost £27,000.  Unfortunately in demolishing the old church most of its old monuments, windows, and other interesting relics were not preserved; they either perished or were carried away during the operations.  

Interesting factoid (1):- During the Civil Wars (1642–1651) when the Scots captured Newcastle, they commenced, in their fanatical zeal against Popery, to deface the religious monuments. They began at ST.Johns church and destroyed the font there, as fonts tend to be the first thing you come across in a church, and on seeing this, Cuthbert Maxwell a stonemason of Newcastle, got to both All Saints, and St.Nicholas and hid both the fonts before the Scots could get to them, replacing them after The Restoration. The one in St Nicholas is still there, but when the old All Saints Church was demolished the font there was given to given to Alderman Hugh Hornby, an enthusiastic collector of antiquities. It is now housed in St.Wilfreds church in Keilder. Will be going to photograph that at some point I think.

In January 1802, a 30 yard section of the churchyard wall collapsed. Coffins and their contents fell into Silver Street. Repairs to the wall and a nearby house cost £249, 12s and 1d (just over £8000). The church went through restorations in 1881, and remained a church until 1961, when it was deconsecrated.

Interesting factoid (2):-  In July 1854, John Alderson, the Beadle of the church, was found guilty of opening graves and stealing the lead from the coffins. According to the Newcastle Guardian and Tyne Mercury, Alderson broke open “no less than five vaults”, reporting that “nine leaden coffins enclosing shells in which dead bodies were deposited had been forcibly removed”. Alderson, along with his wife and mother, faced 18 months imprisonment. His bell-ringer and accomplice, Hewison Marshall, received 12 months. Alderson became known as “Jack, the bad Beadle”. (thanks to Icy Sedgewick)

In 1983-84 it was turned into offices/auditorium as the Town Teacher initiative. Following that, it was used by the Royal Northern Sinfonia before their move to The Sage, Gateshead in 2004. The Church of Saint Willibrord with All Saints used it for a while and it has also hosted musical events. Over the winters of 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 flood damage was caused by blocked roof drains leaving the building in a state of semi-disrepair. In 2015 it was placed on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk register. In 2019, the local congregation of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England and Wales signed a 150-year lease for All Saints. After a comprehensive restoration project, worship services as All Saints Presbyterian Church began in October, 2019.

When we arrived at the heritage open day in September we were, or at least Sophie was,  thinking we would see the restoration complete, and would have a tour of the whole place. But it didn’t happen that way. We got there and waited for the first group to be taken round, and then a gentleman gathered those of us waiting our turn and off we went. The outside of the building had a lot of scaffolding and fencing around it, not very photogenic so I took a picture of this couple waiting with us instead

Inappropriate shoes!!

and the young church people helping out.

Sensible shoes!

Inside we stood in the main auditorium and were talked to by one of the Presbyterian people about what they were doing. I took some pictures of the interior.

Think there’s an altar table under the cloth.

Marble floor tiles being laid.

Tantalising glimpse of the upstairs and lovely woodwork at the rear exit.

Next group being talked to.

And that was that. Had the talk, walked through the lower part and shown out the rear exit. Quite disappointing really. It must be all finished now as they started doing services the following month.

refs:-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Saints%27_Church,_Newcastle_upon_Tyne
http://www.icysedgwick.com/all-saints/
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/newcastle-historical-account/pp302-322

So onwards ever onwards, Sophie had spotted an interesting building roof whilst travelling on a train at some point and we went off to find it, it couldn’t be far she thought. We’ll pause here, but stay tooned for our intrepid travels through Newcastle next time.